A Taliban fighter just north of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul

In this story:

• Afghanistan, Iran fighting feared
• Taliban: We've restored order
• 'Not afraid of U.S.'
• Related stories and sites

This report includes material from CNN's Brent Sadler, the first correspondent from a U.S.-based television network to report from inside Afghanistan since last month's U.S. missile attacks on suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan.

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Afghanistan under the Taliban: CNN takes an exclusive look at what is perhaps the world's strictest Islamic state
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CNN's Brent Sadler follows Taliban fighters in Afghanistan
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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia on Monday claimed more military successes against Iranian-backed opposition forces. Two years after seizing power in their mission to create the world's purest Islamic state, the self-proclaimed holy warriors now control about 90 percent of the country and seek international recognition as Afghanistan's legitimate government.

"We call for recognition by the international community, which is something we deserve and the world knows this," said Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmean.

The U.N. envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, is expected to hear similar calls when he embarks on a mission next month to defuse tension between the Afghanistan and Iran, which supports the Taliban-ousted government of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Iranian diplomats, killed in Afghanistan in August, are mourned in Tehran

The Sunni Muslim Taliban and their rival Shiite Muslim neighbor Iran have engaged in a war of words over alleged atrocities and human rights violations in recent weeks.

The Taliban admitted that nine missing Iranian diplomats had been killed by its men in August and there have been reports of mass killings of Afghan Shiites in areas newly captured by the Taliban's extremist Sunni militia.

As a result, Iran put its forces on a virtual war-footing, sending hundreds of thousands of troops to its borders with Afghanistan in a show of strength.

Only Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan recognize the Taliban government. The U.N. seat is held by Rabbani and the United Nations wants to see a broad-based government to end 20 years of ethnic and factional bloodshed in Afghanistan.

The Taliban say they have brought peace and security to areas under their control after years of anarchy, and dismiss charges that they ignore human rights, especially those of women, as a Western misunderstanding of Islam.

But their record of uncompromising religious zealotry, which includes denying women education and jobs, is a major reason that Western critics, such as U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, have accused them of "gender apartheid."

Under strict Islamic rules, Afghanistan women must completely conceal themselves

Mutmean said women's rights were grossly abused in the bloodshed and chaos that preceded the Taliban takeover but insisted that they now had full rights under Islamic law.

"When women are not safe to venture out of their houses, people can't live peacefully because of fear of armed groups. But where the basic rules of a society are not upheld (under Rabbani), they call that a government," Mutmean said.

Brahimi is expected to fly to Iran first before shuttling between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is accused by Iran of arming and supplying the Taliban, a charge both deny.

He may call for a new round of peace talks, after an earlier round this year between the opposition alliance and the Taliban broke down.

In a country where music has been severely restricted, shreds of confiscated tape dangle from a flagpole at a Taliban military facility

The United States regards the Taliban as host and helper to Washington's most-wanted terrorist suspect, Osama bin Laden, the man allegedly behind last month's bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

He remains well-hidden and well-protected somewhere in war-torn Afghanistan.

While seemingly threatened on two fronts, the Taliban says it is not frightened by Tehran's troops' exercises and Washington's designs on Bin Laden.

"We are not afraid of any power in the world," says Mullah Abdulsatar Ahmadi, a front-line commander, "not of Iran, not even the United States." Ahmadi speaks on the record, but off-camera, as decreed by the Taliban's interpretation of religious law.

Correspondent Brent Sadler and Reuters contributed to this report.

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